Now Simon-Peter did deny Jesus in the yard of Caiaphas and Annas. And Jesus asks him: do you love me more than these? Who are “these”? Apostles. But they did not deny Him, did they? They only ran away. But Peter regretted his denial. And –as St. Luke the Evangelist writes –“he cried bitterly".

We wish we could act like Peter – when we happen to stumble. So that we would be able to acknowledge the wrong and to apologize to God for walking away from Him, if only for a while. For God judges people according to the scale of love. We ought to judge other people and ourselves this way, as well.